Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Advent One: Cast Away the Works of Darkness

Come, O Christ, and dwell among us

Hear our cries, come set us free.

Give us hope and faith and gladness.

Show us what there yet can be. Amen.

And so it begins. Once again
we enter a new church year with the lighting of the first candle on the Advent
wreath – the candle of Hope. And just like every year for as long as anybody
can remember we pray the familiar prayers, sing the familiar hymns and settle
into the familiar season of preparation for the coming of our Lord beginning
with the prayer we always pray on the First Sunday of Advent …

Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness.

We pray those words this
morning with a deep awareness of the darkness and division dominating the
discourse in our nation, the violence and oppression dominating the world news
and the sad truth that the peace on
earth, goodwill to all incarnate in the One whose birth we prepare to
celebrate seems further away than ever this year.

When she spoke at our
Diocesan Convention in 2008 then Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called
Advent “the season when Christians are
called to live with more hope than the world thinks is reasonable” … and not
surprisingly her words ring even more true to me today than they did eight
years ago.

Nevertheless it is our call –
it is our challenge – it is our opportunity – to choose hope … even when we’re
not feeling very hopeful.

Wednesday night at our
Thanksgiving Eve service the homily was centered on a Thanksgiving prayer from
our friend Diana Butler Bass. And it occurs to me this morning that her wise
words about choosing gratitude on Thanksgiving also apply to choosing hope
during Advent … and so let me paraphrase:

God,
there are days we do not feel hopeful. When we are anxious or angry. When we
feel alone. When we do not understand what is happening in the world, or with
our neighbors. God, this Advent, we do
not feel hope. We choose it. And we will make hope, with strong hands and
courageous hearts.

Reframing hope from something
we feel to something we choose shifts our gears from passive to
active. Augustine of Hippo – one of the
great fathers of the early church -- famously said: “Hope has two beautiful
daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and
courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”

Come, O Christ, and dwell among us
Hear our cries, come set us free.

Give us hope and faith and gladness.

Show us what there yet can be.

We light this Candle of Hope
with prayers of thanksgiving for those choosing to channel their anger and
muster their courage by mobilizing around the shared values of love, justice
and compassion.

Those who gathered in
solidarity at the Dolores Mission last week to organize for resistance in the
wake of the presidential election.

Those who stand with water
protectors at Standing Rock as winter descends onto the North Dakota plains.

Those who work to guarantee
that the equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution equally protects all –
not just some – Americans.

For all those refusing to
accept what is and showing us what there yet can be.

We choose hope as the armor
of light we put on during Advent -- light that is a light to ALL people …
especially those already marginalized and oppressed by the systemic “works of darkness” we name as the
racism, sexism, homophobia and nativism that pervaded our civic discourse
during the election cycle.

And let us be abundantly
clear this morning my brothers and sisters: these systemic works of darkness
have always been part of the warp
and woof of our national fabric. Dismantling them is not a post-election
addition to our job description to “strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

Rather -- for me -- this
election cycle and its aftermath is like a rock that gets turned over in the
garden and out from under it crawls all sorts of creepy, crawly, slimy, scary
looking things that have been there all along but now we have no choice but to
see them. To deal with them.

Those of us who have been
protected by our privilege up until now from having to deal with them can’t
“unsee them” – even if we want to. We can’t just put the rock back and pretend
they’re not there.

For the truth
is that this election told me what my head already knew: that we are a nation
deeply divided and that the deep-seated combo of privilege and patriarchy are
powerful roadblocks in the decades old journey toward making liberty and
justice for all in this nation not just a pledge we make but a reality we live.

Or as the
widely circulated meme names it: “When
you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”

The irony that
liberty and justice won the popular vote is small consolation as the dust
settles and we watch white privilege and patriarchy poised to dismantle the
safety nets and protections attempting to guarantee equal protection for all –
not just some – Americans.

And so to my
well meaning friends and colleagues – and some relatives -- who have quickly
moved to calls to “wait and see” and “hope for the best” my response is this
quote from Rabbi Abraham Heschel: “Patience
is a quality of holiness, but it may be sloth in the soul when associated with
the lack of righteous indignation.” As a Christian – as a priest and pastor
– I am righteously indignant at what is happening in our nation not in spite of being a follower of Jesus but because I am a follower of
Jesus.

And I am also deeply grateful for these words from Gay Clark Jennings – the President
of our Episcopal Church’s House of Deputies:

“Reconciliation is holy work. Resistance is too ... When the agendas of the
president-elect and the new Congress scapegoat people of color and Muslims,
deprive our fellow citizens of control over their lives, desecrate God’s
creation or enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor, we must oppose them.
This is not a partisan political statement; it is a confession of faith.”

Advent is time
for hope -- not a necessarily a time for patience. It is a time to use our
collective righteous indignation as fuel for the holy work of resistance. It is
a time to recognize that as the dust continues to settle one aspect of our
post-election reality is the pulverization of the silos of competing
oppressions that have too often separated us from those who are in fact our
allies in the larger struggle.

This is no
longer some straight people standing
with gay people because their right to marriage is threatened; this is no
longer some Christians standing with
Muslims because their Mosque is under attack; this is no longer some white allies marching in Black
Lives Matter protests or some
cisgender folks showing up in solidarity on the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This is all of
us under attack at the same time by the same agenda – an agenda antithetical to
the core values of both Christianity and the Constitution. If we’re not
righteously indignant we’re abdicating our responsibility to both our faith and
to our country – and it is my prayer this First Sunday of Advent that our
indignation will fuel our commitment to choose hope … even when we’re not
feeling hopeful.

For when we choose hope -- when we put on
that armor of the light of love, justice and compassion -- we can move again into
active participation in bending that arc of the moral universe a little closer
to justice by our shared witness to the God who created us all in love and
called us to walk in love with each other. When we choose hope we not only can
– we will – cast away the works of
darkness.

One last quote – this one
from Harvey Milk. “Hope will never be
silent.”

A bullet may have silenced
Harvey Milk – but it did not silence the hope his life, work and witness
inspired. May his example challenge us to refuse to allow an election to
silence the hope that is in us as we continue to look for ways – large and
small – to cast away the works of darkness with the light of God’s love,
justice and compassion.

For some of us, one small way
has been wearing a safety pin as an “outward and visible sign” that we are a
"safe place" – and that we will stand up for the rights of every
single person.

Now let’s be
clear: Thinking you can stick a safety pin on your lapel and make liberty and
justice for all a done deal is like hanging a cross around your neck and
thinking you've made the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

It's just a sign -- just a symbol -- of the commitment to be part of the
solution. It is an icon of solidarity that transcends all the labels that have
been deployed to divide us. It is one tiny way of taking hope out into the
world – of refusing to be silent – of speaking hope to a world in desperate
need of it.

For me it spoke one morning in line at Starbucks. As I waited patiently for my
grande drip with room for cream, a young woman in a hijab turned from the
counter with her Venti something-or-the-other in her hand and looked at me
standing there with my big fat safety pin on my shirt. She smiled and nodded
her head ever-so-slightly ... and in that moment of recognition I got all I
needed to tell me that wearing a safety pin can be one of the ways we work to
cast away the works of darkness – a tiny but concrete way to choose hope as we
journey together beyond the world as it is to the place God would have it be.

Come, O Christ and dwell among us! Hear our cries, come set us
free.
Give us hope and faith and gladness. Show us what there yet can be.

Set us free to be the change you call
us to be.
Set us free to live your love.
Set us free to be your justice.
Set us free to journey into the adventure of God’s future this Advent and
always.
Amen.

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Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Luna and Betsy), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four nearly-grown kids: Jim, Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

Bottom Line:

A Comment On Comments

Strongly held perspectives are appreciated. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted. When in doubt, revisit page 305 of the BCP and if what you're typing doesn't meet the "respect the dignity" clause of the Baptismal Covenant then save us both some time and energy and don't hit "send."

DISCLAIMER

This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

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Smart things other people have said you should know about

“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale